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Create an Azure Network Watcher instance

02/22/2017

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In this article

Network Watcher is a regional service that enables you to monitor and diagnose conditions at a network scenario level in, to, and from Azure. Scenario level monitoring enables you to diagnose problems at an end to end network level view. Network diagnostic and visualization tools available with Network Watcher help you understand, diagnose, and gain insights to your network in Azure. Network Watcher is enabled through the creation of a Network Watcher resource. This resource allows you to utilize Network Watcher capabilities.

Network Watcher is automatically enabled

When you create or update a virtual network in your subscription, Network Watcher will be enabled automatically in your Virtual Network's region. There is no impact to your resources or associated charge for automatically enabling Network Watcher.

Opt-out of Network Watcher automatic enablement

If you would like to opt out of Network Watcher automatic enablement, you can do so by running the following commands:

Warning

Opting-out of Network Watcher automatic enablement is a permanent change. Once you opt-out you cannot opt-in without contacting support

Create a Network Watcher in the portal

Navigate to All Services > Networking > Network Watcher. You can select all the subscriptions you want to enable Network Watcher for. This action creates a Network Watcher in every region that is available.

When you enable Network Watcher using the portal, the name of the Network Watcher instance is automatically set to NetworkWatcher_region_name where region_name corresponds to the Azure region where the instance is enabled. For example, a Network Watcher enabled in the West Central US region is named NetworkWatcher_westcentralus.

The Network Watcher instance is automatically created in a resource group named NetworkWatcherRG. The resource group is created if it does not already exist.

If you wish to customize the name of a Network Watcher instance and the resource group it's placed into, you can use Powershell, the Azure CLI, the REST API, or ARMClient methods described in the sections that follow. In each option, the resource group must exist before you create a Network Watcher in it.